HTML Input=“file” Accept Attribute File Type (CSV)

Question

I have a file upload object on my page:

<input type="file" ID="fileSelect" />

with the following excel files on my desktop:

1. file1.xlsx
2. file1.xls
3. file.csv

I want the file upload to ONLY show .xlsx, .xls, & .csv files.

Using the accept attribute, I found these content-types took care of .xlsx & .xls extensions...

accept= application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet (.XLSX)

accept= application/vnd.ms-excel (.XLS)

However, I cannot find the correct content-type for an Excel CSV file! Any suggestions?

EXAMPLE: http://jsfiddle.net/LzLcZ/

Answer 1

Well this is embarrassing... I found the solution I was looking for and it couldn't be simpler. I used the following code to get the desired result.

<input id="fileSelect" type="file" accept=".csv, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet, application/vnd.ms-excel" />  

Valid Accept Types:

For CSV files (.csv), use:

<input type="file" accept=".csv" />

For Excel Files 97-2003 (.xls), use:

<input type="file" accept="application/vnd.ms-excel" />

For Excel Files 2007+ (.xlsx), use:

<input type="file" accept="application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet" />

For Text Files (.txt) use:

<input type="file" accept="text/plain" />

For Image Files (.png/.jpg/etc), use:

<input type="file" accept="image/*" />

For HTML Files (.htm,.html), use:

<input type="file" accept="text/html" />

For Video Files (.avi, .mpg, .mpeg, .mp4), use:

<input type="file" accept="video/*" />

For Audio Files (.mp3, .wav, etc), use:

<input type="file" accept="audio/*" />

For PDF Files, use:

<input type="file" accept=".pdf" /> 

DEMO:
http://jsfiddle.net/dirtyd77/LzLcZ/144/

---

NOTE:

If you are trying to display Excel CSV files (.csv), do NOT use:

• text/csv
• application/csv
• text/comma-separated-values (works in Opera only).

---

If you are trying to display a particular file type (for example, a WAV or PDF), then this will almost always work...

 <input type="file" accept=".FILETYPE" />

Answer 2

These days you can just use the file extension

<input type="file" ID="fileSelect" accept=".xlsx, .xls, .csv"/>

Answer 3

Dom this attribute is very old and not accepted in modern browsers as far as I know, But here is an alternative to it, Try this

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
function checkfile(sender) {
    var validExts = new Array(".xlsx", ".xls", ".csv");
    var fileExt = sender.value;
    fileExt = fileExt.substring(fileExt.lastIndexOf('.'));
    if (validExts.indexOf(fileExt) < 0) {
      alert("Invalid file selected, valid files are of " +
               validExts.toString() + " types.");
      return false;
    }
    else return true;
}
</script>

<input type="file" id="file" onchange="checkfile(this);" />

I guess it'll help you of course you can change this script according to your needs.

Answer 4

I have used text/comma-separated-values for CSV mime-type in accept attribute and it works fine in Opera. Tried text/csv without luck.

Some others MIME-Types for CSV if the suggested do not work:

• text/comma-separated-values
• text/csv
• application/csv
• application/excel
• application/vnd.ms-excel
• application/vnd.msexcel
• text/anytext

Source: http://filext.com/file-extension/CSV

Answer 5

This didn't work for me under Safari 10:

<input type="file" accept=".csv" />

I had to write this instead:

<input type="file" accept="text/csv" />

Answer 6

You can know the correct content-type for any file by just doing the following:

1) Select interested file,

2) And run in console this:

console.log($('.file-input')[0].files[0].type);

You can also set attribute "multiple" for your input to check content-type for several files at a time and do next:

for (var i = 0; i < $('.file-input')[0].files.length; i++){
    console.log($('.file-input')[0].files[i].type);
}

Attribute accept has some problems with multiple attribute and doesn't work correctly in this case.

Answer 7

In addition to the top-answer, CSV files, for example, are reported as text/plain under macOS but as application/vnd.ms-excel under Windows. So I use this:

<input type="file" accept="text/plain, .csv, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet, application/vnd.ms-excel" />

Answer 8

After my test, on 【macOS 10.15.7 Catalina】, the answer of 【Dom / Rikin Patel】 cannot recognize the [.xlsx] file normally.

I personally summarized the practice of most of the existing answers and passed personal tests. Sum up the following answers:

accept=".csv, .xls, .xlsx, text/csv, application/csv,
text/comma-separated-values, application/csv, application/excel,
application/vnd.msexcel, text/anytext, application/vnd. ms-excel,
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet"

Answer 9

I have modified the solution of @yogi. The addition is that when the file is of incorrect format I reset the input element value.

function checkFile(sender, validExts) {
    var fileExt = sender.value;
    fileExt = fileExt.substring(fileExt.lastIndexOf('.'));
    if (validExts.indexOf(fileExt) < 0 && fileExt != "") {
        alert("Invalid file selected, valid files are of " +
                 validExts.toString() + " types.");
        $(sender).val("");
        return false;
    }
    else return true;
}

I have custom verification buildin, because in open file window the user can still choose the options "All files ('*')", regardless if I explicitly set the accept attribute in input element.

Answer 10

Now you can use new html5 input validation attribute pattern=".+\.(xlsx|xls|csv)".